Fabrication of 3-D alumina photonic bandgap structures by laser rapid prototyping- application to the design of three dimensional photonic crystal resonator antenna

This paper is concerned with improving antenna performance by using photonic bandgap (PBG) structures and their design by laser rapid prototyping method. A solution is to use high dielectric constant to reduce the thickness of these antennas. The fabrication of 1-D, 2-D and 3-D PBG structures was achieved using the laser rapid prototyping technique and a sintering stage of densification with alumina as high permittivity materials. Laser rapid prototyping has proven to be an efficient and flexible tool to realize PBG structures. The electromagnetic measurements made on the 3-D alumina structures use a free space microwave measurement system to permit a nondestructive and in situ testing method over a wide frequency range to characterize the bandgap. These materials are used for their frequency properties and their ability to enhance the behaviour of a single patch antenna in order to create a directive antenna.